


One Two Sided Coin is Required for a Weregild Payment - Please Forge with Care

by hisfoolishgirl



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And these two totes set them up, Camelot's a person, For greatness, Gen, Like I would tag more characters but like their not actually people, Like honestly Magic's a person, Magic Revealed, Personifications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 01:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16903908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisfoolishgirl/pseuds/hisfoolishgirl
Summary: “Have they stolen from land in unfair taxes? Or did they leave the helpless to their fate - even though they have the means do help? Did they watch the sick die as they hide in a citadel locking away the rest of the world in fear? Did they lie to their own children about the cause of their love for them - hiding their bond of blood - Have they done a crime even worse then the king before me?”There was silence in the wake of those words. Their guardians watched Arthur, and they glowed with a light in their eyes. That glimmer was pride could not be muted.“The blonde one healed a boy’s wound,” The man conceded, “And the other spoke to the tree and got his kite down from it.”Arthur spun around the room to his court, “Is this why we burn our own?” He continued to roar.///She was always there, until she wasn't. The moment she left his side though - the other side of the coin appeared.





	One Two Sided Coin is Required for a Weregild Payment - Please Forge with Care

There was a girl. Her hair was blonde, and her form was a sharp blade the filled the void in any room. If anyone other then Arthur could see her. 

It was a session of council, and Arthur sat beside his father. She stood to the side, leaning on a wall where Arthur could clearly see her. Her arms folded and her frown set, ready for Uther to disappoint her again.

This time however she is caught off guard when a lady enters before the council. Uther’s introduction is short, too the point.

The Lady Morgana has entered the court of Camelot, and she is under Uther’s care. Her parents are dead and she is now the king’s ward. Arthur watches her leave, as any man might watch her. Morgana’s raven hair, and her dress of red - crimson as blood -

“Be careful,” She whispers in his ear, “I fear if you stare too long after her that you will fear what you find.”

_ What do you mean? _ He asks back in a pointed thought. A long told jest between how she’s the one whose only allowed to use her mouth to talk between them these days.

“Just what I said,” Which was nothing at all in Arthur’s opinion. That was why he’d asked.  She was silent at that, and Arthur knew that she would only speak when she felt the need to. Never a word more despite the amount he might beg of her to reveal more to him. They left the court room in silence, and it wasn’t until Arthur was alone in his chambers that she spoke up again.

“I’ll be leaving you soon,” She whispered with her gaze out of the window. She was allowing him the dignity of being unobserved. 

Still, he refused to cry. There was no reason for sorrow. She had been his anchor, and now she was choosing to set him to float.  _ Why?  _ He asked with only a thought as he’d grown use to with her. It was a dangerous habit having a loose tongue in Camelot.

She finally turned to him, and she sighed. It was a regal sight, and Arthur only hoped that he could have half of the dignity that she maintained in only the space of his head, “I am not in  your head, Arthur.” Her eyes flickered gold, and he knew the charms she’d put into place in his room would seal them away from the harms that could interrupt them. A wandering ear or from a thoughtless servant.

“I know,” He whispered, “I know who and what you are, Emrys. You are magic, and yet you choose only to show yourself to me. That I still do not understand. Why magic itself would choose to waste it’s days beside me. Unless it is simply to cause me to question the morality of my father, in which you have done exceedingly well.”

She smirked, and she pulled a chair away from the table. With a motion to join her, he did. She sat back in her chair, and if Emrys had not been a force of nature Arthur might have even humored the thought of calling her a peer, a friend. But she was so much more then him, and she was about to leave him.

“It’s not forever,” She whispered.

“Why?” Arthur asked, “Why leave to begin with?”

She shuffled about awkwardly, “Well, you see, somethings have to end so others can begin.”

Arthur buried his fingers in his hair, “I can not watch my father slaughter innocents alone. I can not be expected to sit and play the part of Uther’s prince without a release, Emrys. You’re leaving, and I love you dearly, but this is my foremost concern. What the isolation will do to my heart.”

“I will not leave you alone to that,” She reassured him.

Arthur looked up at her, “Then what do you mean?”

She smiled. She took his hand, and he let her. She intertwined her fingers with his, and her eyes flickered gold. He felt a tremor from his hand to everything else. It was pure and cleansing. It was comfort from a endless, careless conversation. It was Emrys, “I mean, I will not leave you alone.”

“But you will leave?” 

She met his eyes. Her own were a playful glimmer, “You may still see me around. I can never leave Camelot alone to her own devices for long, Arthur. But, you may also not see me around, and know this, my dear king, it is just fine. You will be fine without me to advice you. You can breath on your own, and you will rule like the best. You may even fulfill a prophecy or two. You may even leave a legend in your wake. That is to the extent that I believe in you, Arthur. Do you trust me when I say as Camelot’s lover, I will not allow you to harm this kingdom?”

Arthur squeezed her hand, “I do. I trust you, even if I sometimes I do not believe the content of what it is that you are saying to me.”

She laughed. It was a gentle brook, “And that is how destiny seals itself,” She answered, “But simply doing what it is that it will always do.”

~ ~ ~

It took a week for Emrys to leave his side. It was shortly after that that Arthur, petty as a child his age could be, threw a man standing up to him into the dungeons. It was a day later when that same man saved his life with Uther’s reward of serving Arthur.

There was a glimmer of dread that this was the company that Emrys had left him with.

~ ~ ~

But then there was a poison, and Emrys was there again to lead him where she needed him to go his father never the wiser to his sudden departure from the castle.

“Is Merlin the man that is suppose to replace you?” He growled out to her as he climbed the cave wall that she light with her hue of blue. Her eyes were a different color. 

She simply laughed. That wasn’t an answer, or at least it wasn’t the answer that Arthur had wanted.

~ ~ ~

Then there was a unicorn. Emrys was flittering about as Merlin tried to stop Arthur.

“Do it,” Emrys whispered in his ear, “You must. Your father must not know where you truly stand.”

Arthur trusted magic, and he slayed the unicorn in cold blood. He killed the innocence that marked his kingdom because he knew the current king of cared not for such.

Merlin still begged for Arthur not to drink to save Merlin’s life. Emrys standing behind Merlin simply nodded with a kind and gentle smile, “Save your kingdom from the sins of your father,” She whispered.

He drank, and he wasn’t surprised when he woke. Even if Merlin was.

Idiot.

~ ~ ~

It was in the village, when Will claimed to be the magician that Arthur doubted that the dying man had told him the truth. But when Merlin started to speak he said what he knew he must because if Emrys sent the man - then he was marked by magic itself.

“If you plan on telling me that you’re a warlock, Merlin, please don’t,” Arthur cut him off, “Not only because your stunned silence confirms enough, nor did I already know,” Because he hadn’t really thought about it before. Why should he? “But because until I am king I am not my own man. My own thoughts do not matter.”

Arthur sent a cutting gaze at Merlin, stunned silent, “I am the crown prince and I am sworn loyal to my king and to my kingdom. Do not ask me to choose between the two. Not yet.”

“One day?” Merlin whispered, “When you are king - which will you choose?”

Arthur smirked, and he took a page from his friend’s book. He left it at that just Emrys would.

~ ~ ~

She was always there growing up with Merlin. She spoke of the kingdom distant, and she planted a seed of love in his heart for a land far away. It wasn’t a surprise that he jumped at the chance to go to Gaius when his mother offered it as a place to flee too.

It was a surprise when Camelot, for that was the name the girl had given to him to use, told him that she wouldn’t be with him in the citadel - she’d have a different companion waiting for him there to replace her.

Merlin should have known that Camelot would entrust him with her prince, but that didn’t give him a reason to be happy about it.

~ ~ ~

He heard a voice calling his name, but Camelot laid him back down to sleep through the night. “You’ll have adventures enough soon. So, rest, Merlin, and the city will guide you in the place of a sage banned from her walls.”

~ ~ ~

Camelot was the one that told him of the poisoned chalice, and the ill that Nimueh was scheming to hurt both of the ones that she held precious - both her prince and her mage. She held his hand as she burned, and she told him that her sister would take care of what they could not.

~ ~ ~ 

Camelot had lead Merlin to the unicorn.

“Watch carefully the adventures ahead,” She had told him.

“I really wish you’d just give me an answer to whatever problem it is lying ahead,” Merlin answered instead.

She simply laughed, and she faded with the wind.

As Arthur drank from the chalice, Merlin could feel Camelot holding him back, binding his magic from trying to force the choice away from Arthur’s hands. The city let her prince die.

Then he watched her, and the unicorn’s caretaker, wake him again.

“Trust my prince,” Camelot told him, “He’s not the complete prat that he pretend to be.”

Merlin was too relieved to see the prince alive to snort out with disbelief.

~ ~ ~

A prye for the dead was an honorable burial rite, but Arthur had collected Will’s prye on his own. His reason for such was burn the sorcerer.

Morgana stood with Merlin as they watched Arthur finish the pyre, “Do you believe him?” Merlin asked her, “That he hates magic so much?”

Morgana looked at Merlin, and there was a moment where he didn’t know how she’d explain Arthur’s behavior. After that there was a small smile, “Perhaps,” She whispered. Her gaze drifted back to Arthur, “Or perhaps he is simply unsure of how else to thank the man that save his life using a force that would have gotten him killed by Uther’s hands? So he’s doing it in the only way he can - by doing this alone with any story that is required.”

~ ~ ~

“Trust him,” Merlin whispered as he watched ashes flicker out. Arthur had left a lifetime ago, and now Camelot stood beside him once more. Their fingers intertwined, “You told me to trust him.”

“Was I wrong?”

“No,” Merlin answered, “You were right. You were so very very right.”

~ ~ ~

A lifetime of adventures, and at the passing of Uther, came the next lifetime. The lifetime of the Once and Future King. Before that could happen however, Albion had to be reunited, and crimes corrected. 

Magic had to be brought back to the land.

The first council meeting had a lord dragging in a criminal to be tried. Two druid women, beaten by the guards that had kept them contained and unable to perform magic. The druid to the right, blonde, stood, and Arthur with her. His breath was catching in his chest. He had not even had the chance to wear the crown for more then twenty four hours before being presented with the most common case of his father’s reign.

And he knew the woman’s face well. 

Merlin’s gasp hinted that he knew one or the other, perhaps even both. He took a step forward before he stopped. Merlin knew of Arthur’s plans to return magic to the kingdom - he had been the one beside Arthur once he’d heard of his father’s passing. Arthur motioned for the man to continue. 

“Emrys,” Arthur breathed. Merlin stopped before he’d even made it half way. He turned to look at Arthur. Emrys, the women before them smiled.

“I might have lied about my name,” She purred, and as her eyes swirled with gold the bruising vanished and the dirt cleansed away, “But going by Magic? Such an unlikely name.”

Merlin’s eyes grew wider, and he dared not look away from Arthur.

“Do you know the other?” Arthur asked him, “Because I grew up with the vain one.”

Merlin turned back, but he nodded as he did so. She stood to her full height no longer cowering, and as Magic’s eyes kept gold the other’s outfit was cleansed in the same way. 

Both were regal, and their presence demanded the silence of the courtroom. Arthur glanced at Morgana to the side, and tears were running down her face. Gwen beside her, held her husband’s hand tightly. Lancelot kept his eyes on Arthur.

Lancelot knew even if Arthur had never had a conversation with the man on the subject. He knew that magic was returning to the land. Arthur looked back at Merlin, “Who is she?”

“Camelot,” Merlin breathed. His eyes turned to the audience, “You all can see them? Can’t you?”

Slowly a murmur flickered through the court. It was a agreement, and knowing that his court could see the childhood friend that he’d always had to himself left him feeling vulnerable. This was a new age for Camelot.

Arthur turned his gaze to the man that had brought them, battered before the court, “What did you do to them?”

“They were practicing magic-” He murmured as if he’d sensed that there was no right way out of this. He was right.

“How?” Arthur roared, “What were they doing? Killing the innocent? Taking parents from their children? Murdering the youth of the land before they even have a chance to climb a tree or raise a lamb? 

“Have they stolen from land in unfair taxes? Or did they leave the helpless to their fate - even though they have the means do help? Did they watch the sick die as they hide in a citadel locking away the rest of the world in fear? Did they lie to their own children about the cause of their love for them - hiding their bond of blood - Have they done a crime even worse then the king before me?”

There was silence in the wake of those words. Their guardians watched Arthur, and they glowed with a light in their eyes. That glimmer was pride could not be muted.

“The blonde one healed a boy’s wound,” The man conceded, “And the other spoke to the tree and got his kite down from it.”

Arthur spun around the room to his court, “Is this why we burn our own?” He continued to roar.

He let the question hang, and it was Morgana that spoke up despite the death pale look of her guard, her would be son, the most open secret of the court, Mordred, “Yes,” She answered with a raised chin and curt voice, “Is there any other fate that should be given to those that practice the gifts that they were not given a choice to carry?”

Arthur watched the court, and then he turned to the women he was suppose to burn, “Camelot and Magic?” He whispered. He stepped up beside Merlin, and it would take a man unborn not see to the comparisons between the men and the women that stood center stage, “What are you to each other?”

Camelot raised her voice, “Sisters,” She answered, “We are blood that can not live without the other.”

Magic’s eyes glowed and a display of magic flickered around the sisters. Fire played in the air, and Arthur watched with wonder as dragons formed and as creatures were slain by the knights in red cloaks that filled the space that enraptured the crowd.

The dragons swirled around Arthur and Merlin as the rest of the creatures that had at one point or another attacked Camelot were slain, “Prince Arthur and the Promised of the Druids - Merlin the one they call Emrys,” Magic asked, “What are you to us?”

Arthur looked to Merlin who stood as devotely as Camelot had moments ago when she’d answered Arthur’s question, “We are two sides of a coin that will be paid to undo all the harm that has been done to your people.”

Merlin’s eyes swam in the same golden display as Magic’s had, but instead of knights killing foes there were flames of fire and a haunting display as they consumed those that had tried to flee from harm's way.

“We are the blood money that must be paid. Our lives, for eternity, ever at your beck and call.”

Magic turned to Arthur, “What say you to that?” She asked, “Do you both pledge that oath?”

Arthur pulled out his sword, he pulled out excalibur, and he knelt before her. His sword an offering to the ones that he loved, “I swear it. My sword for my kingdom.” He felt the weight lift from his hands, and she tapped both of his shoulders with it. She turned to Merlin, who had knelt as well, and she did the same.

“Then so be it,” Camelot spoke, “You are my knights. You are the Once and Future King, dear Arthur, and you, young Merlin, are indeed Emrys, decreded Immortal in the ancient tongue,” Her voice dropped for the both of them, “ Long live you both,” She whispered to them. She turned to the audience, and her voice was an echo through the chamber, “Long live the King.”

“Long live the king,” Echoed back, “Long live the king.”

**Author's Note:**

> Still working sixty-ish hour work weeks, but like at the same time this is finals week and I'm taking next semester off and - And ya know what this was an hour of my life gladly spent writing whatever the hell this dorky little thing turned out to be.
> 
> Cause I love writing. And there's nothing that's going to change that. 
> 
> Unless you tell me this is bad. Then my insecurities will come crashing in and you won't see me on this site for like another six months.
> 
> Though I doubt it - I have too many ongoing WIPS for my own good. Like really - I just need to stick to oneshots man.


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